


3 bitches and a puppy (Part 10) - Baby

by Fleppy85



Series: 3 bitches and a puppy [10]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24965248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fleppy85/pseuds/Fleppy85
Summary: Sofia finds out she's pregnant. After she found a way to tell Brian she faces a new problem. The blue rose killer is back again.
Series: 3 bitches and a puppy [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806838





	3 bitches and a puppy (Part 10) - Baby

Sara was almost done with her work. She bagged evidence in a few dozen bags, lifted prints, took photos and cut a piece of the carpet to send it to traces. She was working a robbery, a couple was robbed in their own house and left behind seriously injured. The burglar or the burglars had emptied the safe and taken a few other things. So far the victims weren’t able to talk to the police, so Sara had to guess what was missing. She saw no TV, no dvd player and no stereo, so she assumed it was taken, same with a computer or notebook. At two places on the wall in the living room was the wall slightly brighter, the size suggested there were paintings and she hadn’t found any cash or jewelry in the house.   
“Where’s the detective?” Since she has been here, Sara hadn’t seen any detective around. Only the patrol officers, who secured the scene.   
“The detective left the scene, went home sick.”  
“Sick?”  
“Yeah, the little souvenir in the front garden is from her. Probably wrong dinner.”  
“Who was it?”  
“Curtis.”  
Sara furrowed her brows. She knew Sofia had dinner with Brian and as far as she knew, they didn’t went out for dinner.   
“Who replaced her?”  
“Stuarts, he’s talking to the neighbors.”  
“I’m done here for now, go back to the lab and go on to see the victims in hospital.”  
“Okay. Have fun.”  
“Ditto.”  
Sara drove back to the lab, got her evidence to traces, DNA and left the rest for herself and took off to Desert Palms. The doctor told her the couple was still in surgery, their life wasn’t in danger, but before the late afternoon they weren’t expected to be able to talk to anybody. The husband got hit on the head very badly, it wasn’t sure if he could remember anything, the wife lost a lot of blood when she was stabbed.   
Sara collected the clothes and asked that they’d call her when she could collect evidence from under nails and the rest of the body.   
She was back at the lab and had started to work on her evidence when Grissom came into the room.  
“You’re working the burglar case, right?” He asked.  
“Right.”  
“Tell me about it.”  
“A couple gets assaulted in their house, he got hit on the head, she was stabbed, the burglar or the burglars emptied the safe, took jewelry, money, at least two paintings and other things we don’t know of yet. The couple is in surgery, I can’t talk to them before tonight.”  
“How did the burglar came in the house?”  
“Through an open window in the bathroom on the lower ground. Why?”  
“We got another case that sounds like yours. Do you think your burglar could be a busy burglar?”  
“The first house worked out good, why not try it again? Maybe he or they thought, it’s their lucky night. Where’s the second case?”  
“Only four blocks away from your scene.”  
“Witnesses? Victims?”  
“An elderly man, who lived in the house, wasn’t home. He visits his son in San Diego at the moment. Neighbors noticed some lights. First they didn’t think anything of that, then they realized, their neighbor shouldn’t be home and called it in. By the time the police arrived, the burglar was gone.”  
“Shall I go there?”  
“No, I’ll take that one. I just wanted to let you know so we can have a look if our cases are connected.”  
“I’ve some prints running through AIFIS. As soon as possible I’ll get the prints of the victims to rule them out.”  
“Okay, keep me posted.”  
“I will. Call me if you want some help.” She turned and got her attention back to a knife. It was covered in blood and seemed to be the weapon used on the wife. She had sent an example to DNA, there were no fingerprints on the knife, but she hadn’t found many different prints. Whoever went into that house wore gloves, she was sure about that. 

It was late morning when she went home. Greg was still out, he had a homicide together with Nick, that meant, they were busy for a while. She had seen Jules in the department, her friend was working a case with day shift.   
She took a decaf coffee and a bagel and walked over to Sofia’s and Greg’s apartment. The blonde wasn’t home. If she went straight to Brian? Or was she serious sick and went to a doctor? Sara checked her cell, no message. She dialed Sofia’s number and got straight to the mailbox.   
“Hey, I heard you went home sick. Are you alright?”  
She went back to her own apartment. It was time to go to bed, but she needed another fifteen minutes to relax. There were no important emails, she checked the news, read a newsletter of a science magazine and was ready to go to bed after a shower.   
She was almost asleep when she noticed that somebody got under her blanket.   
“You took the wrong turn, this isn’t the right bed for you.” She thought the times, when people ended up in her bed, were over. Obviously she was wrong.   
“No, I’m exactly where I want to be.” Sofia said.  
“Are you alright? You went home sick.” Sara opened her eyes. She couldn’t see much of the detective in the darkness of the room.   
“Stomach problems.”  
“I heard that. Was something wrong with your dinner?”  
“No, the dinner was perfect. Brian is a good cook.”  
“Did you go to the doctor?”  
“Yes.”  
“Nothing serious?”  
“Depends.”  
“On what?” Sara wasn’t that tired anymore. Something was wrong with Sofia. “It will go away, won’t it?”  
“I’m afraid it won’t.”  
“Sofia!” Sara sat up, but got pulled down by Sofia. The blonde pulled her in her arms.   
“Don’t. Please.”  
“What’s wrong with you?”  
“If I tell you, you’ll laugh or think I’m absolutely stupid.”  
“Even during the time I wasn’t that fond of you, I never thought you’re stupid.”  
“Maybe things have changed.”  
“They have. I’m very fond of you now. So tell me, what is wrong with you?”  
“I…oh god, that’s so…damn it.”  
“What is it, Sofia?” Sara noticed that her friend’s skin felt cold.   
“I’m…” Sofia stopped and swallowed. Again and again. How could she say this without sounding ridiculous? Stupid.   
Sara wanted to ask again, wanted to make Sofia talk. But she felt, she had to give her friend the time she needed, to tell her what was wrong. There was a feeling in Sara’s stomach, pins and needles, that make her nervous. It was serious. Kind of.   
“I’m pregnant.”  
Sara was speechless. Did Sofia really say what she understood? Could it be the blond said something else? Not pregnant. Maybe she said…stagnant. Something must be wrong with Sara’s ears, she was sure, Sofia said something very different.   
The wetness she felt on her shirt brought her back to reality. Sofia was crying, so whatever she said, it wasn’t good. Did she really say pregnant?   
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes.”  
“How…I mean…what does Brian say about this?”  
“He doesn’t know.”  
“Why?”  
“Because I’m afraid of how he’ll react.”  
“Okay, this is a very stupid question I’ll ask you know and I only ask this question because I’m sure there’s a rule you have to ask this question in this situation, even if it’s stupid…he is the father, right?”  
“Of course!”   
“I knew it. Thanks. Uhm…okay. Why do you think he won’t react in a good way?”  
“We’re less than six months together.”  
“Okay, it’s fast but…”  
“We never had unprotected sex. What if he believes I cheated on him? What if he wants me to get rid off the baby? What if he freaks out?”  
“There are million of people on this planet, whose parents used protection but the mother became pregnant. Nothing works one hundred percent, Brian isn’t stupid, he knows that too. And if he reacts like an idiot, you and all we others were wrong about him. I doubt we were all that wrong. Do you want the baby?”  
“Of course! I’d never have an abortion.”  
“I’m to ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent sure Brian will be happy about the baby. For the very unlikely event that he is an asshole, you know you have friends. There are two doctors, two CSIs and a secretary, who will all – just like your parents will – be there for you.”  
“Do you think I can handle it alone?”  
“You’ll never be alone, Sofia. Do you listen? We’ll be there for you and Brian will be there too.”  
“I’m scared.”  
“It’s a new situation, you’ll be responsible not only for your life. There’ll be a little human, who depends on you. But you’re not alone, you’ll make it.”  
“Okay…Sara?”  
“Yes?”  
“I’m pregnant. Isn’t that crazy?”  
“Kind of. How far are you?”  
“Ninth week.”  
“And you found out today?”  
“Yes. I was so busy, I ignored it, thought, it’s because of the stress. After all, we never had unprotected sex, so it was impossible that I’m pregnant. When I felt sick for the second night in a row and couldn’t remember that I ate anything bad, I went to my doctor, who sent me to the gynecology. Since two hours I know I’m pregnant.”  
“You should tell Brian.”  
“Not now. I’ll do it tonight. He has to work and I…I think I need some sleep. I’ve to be careful now, there’s somebody with me and I’m responsible for him or her.”  
“That’s true.”  
“Can I stay here or do you want your bed free of pregnant women?”  
“As far as I can remember I never had a pregnant woman in my bed. Let’s see how you’re in bed when you’re pregnant, Sofia.” Sara kissed Sofia’s hair and made sure, the blonde was completely under the blanket.  
“Thanks.”  
“You’re welcome. Sleep and after that, you can tell Brian that his beautiful girlfriend will give him a wonderful baby.” Sara smiled a bit. Sofia was pregnant. There would be three bitches and two puppies soon.

“Tell me it’s not what it looks like.”  
“Huh?” Sara blinked a few times. There was light in her room. And a person. Probably the one, who belonged to the voice, that woke her up. Who the hell? She rose her head. Brian. What was he doing in her room? And whose arm was around her…Sofia. Sofia? Oh yes, the blonde was pregnant and needed a friend to tell and stayed. And all these things, Brian didn’t know about, looked like you could mistake them for something else.   
“I think, I’ll let the two of you alone.” Sara crawled out of her bed. Luckily she was wearing her sleep shirt and boxers. “She has a good explanation, Brian. Believe me.”   
Brian said nothing, his eyes were on Sofia, whose eyes were huge and filled with panic. She didn’t want Sara to leave. She wanted her friend around. What if Brian was mad? What if he didn’t believe her? Or if he got even more crazy after she told him the truth?   
“Can you sit, please?” She felt better when he didn’t stand over her like a judge.   
Reluctant Brian sat on the edge of the bed.   
“So, tell me why you are in Sara’s bed, in her arms and not in your own bed.”  
“Because I needed a friend.”  
“And you can’t just talk to a friend like all other people do?”  
“No.”  
“No?”  
“No.” Sofia sighed. “I…when I went the first to see Jules in her office we were already friends. I wasn’t able to talk to her face to face. I laid on the couch and I asked her at one point to hold me. She laid behind me so that I didn’t face her, had the possibility to look wherever I wanted to look, but felt her, knew she was there. I still can’t talk to her face to face about problems. It’s very difficult.   
When I came in here this morning to talk to Sara, she was already in bed. I laid next to her and she knew immediately that something was wrong. We talked, I asked her if it’s alright if I stay, she agreed. I really needed a friend today.”  
“Why didn’t you come to me?”  
“You were at work.”  
“Sofia, you can come to me whenever you have a problem, I thought you knew that.” His voice got softer when he took her hand.   
“I…need to tell you something, Brian.”  
“Your problem?”  
“Yes. No. I’m not sure if it’s a problem. That depends on how you see it. I hope, you don’t see it as a problem.”  
“Try me.” His finger stroke softly over her hand. “Do you want to talk to me like this or shall I take you in my arms, give you some freedom?”  
She smiled. “Let’s try it this way, okay?”  
“Okay.”  
“I…I went home early last night.”  
“Are you ill, felt sick?”  
“I did. Like the night before. I thought I ate something bad, but we had nothing, that could make me feel sick. I went to see my doctor this morning, he send me to another doctor and…”  
“And what? Sofia, are you ill?”  
“No.” She felt sorry for the fear she could hear in his voice. “I…promise you won’t yell at me.”  
“I never yell at you.”  
“And you don’t be mad and get angry and…”  
“Sofia, please. What is it?”  
“I’m pregnant.” Wow, that was fast. But the words just spilled out of her mouth, she had no control, no chance to stop them. It was like they just popped out automatically.   
She looked into his face. Were there any traces of anger? Was he holding back the urge to yell at her? Would he start to accuse her of cheating? Was this the end of their relationship? Would she have a baby without a father?  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes.” His voice was calm, she didn’t hear any anger. Some disbelieve, surprise.   
“I know that there’s always a risk that the woman get pregnant, no contraception works without mistakes…how far are you?”  
“Ninth week.”   
“And you know it since today?”  
“Yes. I guess I blamed all signs on the stress I had. After all, we always practiced safe sex, I couldn’t be pregnant. At least that was what I thought.”  
“And you thought I’m mad because you’re pregnant?”  
“You could think I cheated on you and the baby is from somebody else because it can’t be yours. Shouldn’t be yours because of the contraception. I was confused. The pregnancy took me by surprise, I needed somebody to talk to. And I couldn’t talk to you before I was stable again. So I talked to Sara. She told me, you’ll be fine, you won’t be mad. And if you will, there are a bunch of people, who’ll be there for the baby and me.”  
“You really thought I’m mad?”  
“I wasn’t able to think like I use to.”  
“Sounds like.”  
“So…what do you say?” She bit on her lips and looked into his eyes to find an answer there before he said anything. How did he take the news? Did he believe her? Was he angry? Was he happy?  
“I can’t understand why you thought I’d be mad. But I blame it on the hormones, women do that all the time when they’re pregnant.” He smiled a bit. “It’s fast, I never expected us to have a child within the next two, three years. But you are pregnant and I think, it’s something beautiful.”  
“You are not mad?”  
“You still don’t use your head like you used to, do you?” He took her in his arms and kissed her softly. “I’m happy. Surprised but happy.”  
“Thanks.” Again tears. The second time today. No, the third. She cried the whole way from her doctor back home. The hormones again? Would this go on for the next months? In this condition she couldn’t work. She couldn’t arrest a killer and cry the whole time. She needed to get her hormones under control. Soon.   
But right now she was too happy. Brian was happy. He wanted the baby. They would be a family. 

“You look like you talked, good.” Sara smiled when Sofia and Brian came out of her bedroom hand in hand.  
“We did.” Sofia smiled.   
“I made some coffee for the new dad and some orange juice for the mom. No more coffee for you, that’s not good for our baby.”  
“Our baby? I thought it’s Brian and my child. What part did you do of me getting pregnant?”  
“I introduced you to Jules, who brought you in contact with Brian and that’s why you’re pregnant. Beside, I was the one who had to talk you into talking to the father of your child. You are pregnant that means, we’ll have another puppy; a baby puppy.”  
“In that case I’m the perfect doctor for our child.” Brian grinned.   
“I think I don’t want a vet around when I’m due. I mean, you’re more than welcome to stay with me, Brian, but I want the rest of the doctors too.”  
“I’m sure Jules and Nina will be there too.”  
“I wasn’t talking about doctors for my head, I thought more of doctors, who help women every day to deliver babies. And I want to be in a hospital for humans…and I want a coffee!”  
“No way and if you drink a coffee, it will be decaf. Or do you want a baby that’s on a caffeine rush and cries the first weeks and doesn’t sleep?”  
“Great. I feel sick, I’ll get fat, I have to stop working, have to have the pain when the baby wants out and I’m not allowed to drink coffee. Life isn’t fair.”  
“Not when you’re pregnant, no.” Sara put a wholegrain bagel on Sofia’s plate. “Be glad you told me you’re pregnant. I give you orange juice. Somebody else would put some disgusting teas in front of you.”  
“Yuck.” Sofia made a grimace. Right, Jules was likely to replace coffee with one of her disgusting teas. “We won’t tell her, deal?”  
“That won’t work for a long time.”  
“Promise you protect me from the tea.”  
“As long as you’re here with me there’ll be fresh orange juice or anything else you can drink but no tea.”  
“Thanks.” Sofia turned to Brian. “Will you make me stop working?”  
“Only if I want trouble with you.” He smiled but there was some concern in his eyes. He didn’t like the idea his girlfriend and the baby were out on the streets every night, their life in danger, but he was wise enough not to force Sofia into something else.   
“I know you worry, you always do. I can wear a bullet proofed vest all the time. And by the end of my pregnancy I won’t be able to work in the fields anymore. I’ll talk to Brass that I’ll get a desk in four months and go back out after the birth.”  
“Thanks Honey.” Brian kissed Sofia. This sounded much better than a pregnant detective chasing killer without protection.   
“Can you make sure you don’t wander off alone, Sara?”  
“I think I can manage to look after me, yes.”  
“Good.”  
“Sofia, you’re the one we worry about.”  
“And I worry about you. So does the baby. It feels when mommy worries, so you are responsible for it’s well-being too.”  
“She knows that she’s pregnant for less than twelve hours and tries to use it to blackmail people. This will be fun the next months.” Sara rolled her eyes. It seems like Sofia was over the first shock and found already a way to use her pregnancy. 

“Two prints from your crime scene match the prints from my crime scene.” Grissom had called Sara in his office.   
“So the burglar were busy.”  
“Yes. Could you talk to the victims?”  
“They were on the couch, watching a movie. The couch faces away from the door to the hallway. It seems like the perpetrators caught them not only by surprise but also from behind. The woman reminded that her husband dropped forward at one point, fell off the couch and before she could react or do anything, she got stabbed. They weren’t able to tell me how many people were in their house or what they looked like. I collected their clothes, got some traces and will work with that tonight.”  
“Leave that to me, I want you on another case.”  
“Okay.” Sara was surprised. Usually she was the one who finished the cases up for him. That they changed roles this time was fine with her.   
“Do you have a new case for me?”  
“The next one that will come in is yours.”  
“Okay, I finish up my report and leave the rest to you.” She smiled and left the office. There wasn’t much she had to write in her report, she could keep it short. They had talked about the case, the statement of the victims hadn’t been very helpful so far there was no message from traces, that something special was found. And until the victims wasn’t able to leave the hospital, they couldn’t give them a complete list of things, that got stolen.   
She didn’t have to wait long for her new case. Soon her cell phone rang and Grissom sent her to a crime scene in Henderson. She was delighted to find Sofia there too. And as the blonde had promised today, she wore a bullet proofed vest. On over her clothes, visible for everybody, but under her clothes, well hidden under the jacket.   
“Detective, nice to see you. And nice to see you keep promises.” Sara smirked and looked at Sofia’s upper body, that wasn’t that slim anymore with the vest. The best way for Sofia to get used to her pregnancy. In a few weeks her cloths wouldn’t fit anyway.  
“You hope you do too.” Sofia kept a straight face. Sara knew, she didn’t want her colleagues to know about the pregnancy. Not now. She needed some time, needed to tell her family first. And the rest of her friends.   
“What’s wrong?” The serious look in Sofia’s face wasn’t about her, it was about something else.   
“I called Brass.”  
“Don’t you feel good?”  
“I’m alright, thanks. But Brass needs to call agent Copper.”  
“Agent Copper? Why…? No!”  
“Have a look for yourself.” Sofia accompanied Sara in the two story building. It was a new building, Sara could smell the fresh paint and there were no scratches on the wooden floor. The garden wasn’t built, it looked like whoever lived in this house had built it new and just moved in.   
A young woman was face down on the kitchen floor. There was some blood under her head, suggesting a head wound. Something they didn’t have with all the victims before. Under other circumstances Sara had taken that as an indication, that they weren’t dealing with their serial killer. But the blue plastic rose next to the victim told her different. Next to the victim, only a food away, not touching the victim, like it had been in the copy killer case.   
“I’m afraid you’re right.” Sara took several photos.   
“The blood irritated me first.”  
“Same here.” Sara bent down. “I guess she dropped and hit her head. The other victims died sitting or laying, this one was walking around when the poison ended her life.” Sara took a look around. “I think, she was about to call for help.” With her chin she pointed to a phone on the wall only three yards away.   
“She felt strange, wanted to call 911 to get an ambulance and never made it to the phone.” Sofia fulfilled Sara’s sentence. “Possible.”  
“Who found her?”  
“The gardener.”  
“The gardener?” It was almost midnight, since when did gardener work at this time?  
“Yes. She asked for a garden pond. Not any kind of garden pond, she wanted the light of the full moon reflected in it and the reflection was suppose to be visible from her bedroom. The gardener had to wait until full moon to find the right spot, that’s why they had this late appointment.”  
“And the bedroom is where?” Somehow Sara wasn’t surprised by the crazy ideas people in this town had. They had a little Eiffel Tower, they had Lady Liberty, why not a garden pond that got the full moon light in it so that you could see it from your bed. Sounded romantic.  
“The room next door.”  
“Brass having Copper on the phone means, I won’t work this scene.”  
“No, we both won’t.”  
“I’ll take some photos and have a look around. Scene is secured?”  
“Yes.” Now a little smile appeared on Sofia’s face. “Nice to see you keep your promises too. I’ll wait here for David and the Feds.”  
“Okay. I’ll call Nina.” Sara got her cell out. It wasn’t her job to call the profiler, agent Copper had to call her, she was his profiler. But Nina was Sara’s friend and Sara preferred to see her more as a friend than a FBI agent.  
“I’m already awake.” It seemed like Sara wasn’t fast enough.   
“Copper called you.”  
“Yes.”  
“Sorry, I just arrived.”  
“Tell me what you saw.”  
“You’ll see for yourself, I can hear you’re in a car.”  
“Yes I am. I’d like to hear it from you.”  
“This case is different than the others. There’s blood. It appears like the vic, a young woman, tried to reach the telephone but didn’t make. She fell on the floor, hit her head and started to bleed a bit. The amount of blood suggested that she didn’t live long after she hit the ground. The house is new, I don’t think she lived here longer than a few days. You can smell the fresh paint, there are no scratches on the floor. The gardener, who had a late night appointment for a crazy garden pond order, found her. I’ll have a look around and leave the scene to you guys.”  
“I’ll be there soon.”  
“With Jules?”  
“No.”   
So her friend hadn’t been ask to join the FBI this time. Well, it was early, maybe they wanted to ask Jules tomorrow.  
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.”  
“Yes, soon.”  
Sara closed her phone. If Nina was on her way to the crime scene, the other agents were too. That meant for Sara to hurry with her photos. She had several of the victim and the kitchen, took three of each room and walked outside. She saw a man in a green overall next to a patrol officer. The gardener had to wait for the FBI. Until they were here, she could ask him a question or two.   
“Hey, I’m Sara Sidle with the crime lab. You found the body?”  
“Yes.” He seemed to be calm for somebody, who found a dead woman.  
“How did you find her?”  
“We had an appointment. When she didn’t open the door after I rang the bell a couple of times, I walked around the house, had a look through windows because I thought, she might have fallen asleep. I saw her on the ground through the kitchen glass door and called 911.”  
“Did you touch anything?”  
“The windows. The front door. The bell. I left some prints in the garden too. The boots are already bagged by the detective.”  
Sofia had remembered her time as a CSI and collected some evidence. Once a CSI always a CSI.   
“You don’t look very concerned or excited about the body.”  
“I’m a gardener. Do you have any idea how many bodies or bodies parts you find when you dig in gardens in Vegas? Two decades ago this was desert, a place where you took your last walk in the desert with the mob behind you. Sometimes I wonder if I work as a gardener or a freaking cemetery custodian.”  
He had a point there. After you saw a few bodies, found a few times body parts, you knew the routine, you weren’t excited anymore. Sara wasn’t sure if it was a good or a bad thing.   
“Thanks.” She wanted to make it around the house, but the ground didn’t allow her to walk her around without leaving marks. She wasn’t supposed to leave marks, she wasn’t supposed to change the crime scene. Instead of looking for some evidence, she called Grissom.  
“I heard it already.”  
“You like to send me to these scenes, don’t you?”  
“Your connection to the FBI is better than mine.”  
“Only when it comes to Nina, who is on her way, by the way.”  
“Thought so.”  
“What do you want me to do?”  
“Wait for the Feds, come back. I’m sure you’ve got something for us.”  
“Photos and a statement.”  
“Prints?”  
“No, but I can…no, I can’t. The Feds are there. I’ll be back soon.” She ended the call and looked at the three black cars, that had just arrived. She couldn’t see agent Copper, who had led the investigations the last times.   
“How comes you are always at my crime scenes, Sidle?”  
“Because the scenes need one person, who knows what she’s doing and what to look for, agent Silverton.” Sara smiled.  
“That would be me.”  
“Of course. Where’s agent Copper?”  
“He won’t join us this time.”  
“Too successful, huh?”  
“I pretend I didn’t hear that. What do we have here?”  
Sara repeated what she had told Grissom. She preferred to work with Tom than with agent Copper. Tom wasn’t looking down on her. He wasn’t a trainee as a profiler anymore, after the last case they had together it was clear, he preferred to be an agent.   
“You looked around?”  
“No. I can’t walk around the house without leaving traces. That’s the job of your CSI.”  
“I’m sure you don’t destroy any evidence.” His voice was low now.   
“Thanks, but as a CSI I know how annoying it is when people walk through your crime scene. I didn’t take any prints, only talked to the gardener. His prints are on the windows, so he said. Sofia is inside with the body.”  
“I’ll join her.”  
“Do you want me to stick around or can I go?”  
“I’m not the boss here, the new boss will be here soon. If you want to stick around, I don’t mind. You know what to do and what not to do.”  
“I do.” She waited until he was in the house like the rest of his team. There was no reason to stay, she couldn’t do anything. No need to waste her work time with doing nothing when there were cases she could work on. With one last look at the house she walked to her car and took off.

“The blue rose killer is back?” Greg came to Sara, who had just put all her evidence of the new case away.   
“I’m afraid yes.” She gave him a short report of what she had seen.   
“Did the killer leave a note?”  
“No. She didn’t do that the last time either.”  
“Last time she was longer away. Do you think she left because the FBI was too close?”  
“I don’t know, it could be. But maybe she just had to something somewhere else to do. Jules said, our killer works, is highly intelligent. If she has to travel a lot in her job, she is away from Vegas every now and then.”  
“But by telling us that she’ll go away, she gives us something to work on. We can look who travels away around the time she left, compare names and…okay, there’ll be so many names and if she travels by car, she doesn’t leave any traces.” He sat down and sighed. It was frustrating.   
“The FBI is here?”  
“Yes.”  
“Is agent Copper still arrogant?”  
“He isn’t working the case anymore.”  
“Not? How comes?”  
“I don’t know. Tom was there and said, there’s somebody else in charge. I didn’t stay around to see who it is. It doesn’t matter for us.”  
“No, we’re out. You know, for being the Feds, for taking away our case because we weren’t good enough, they don’t have a lot found out.”  
“You think, you can do it better, Greg?”  
They turned around and found Tom listening.   
“You’ve got nothing, I can’t be worse.”  
“You mean, we haven’t told you what we’ve got.”  
“If you had anything, that brings you to the killer, you would have somebody in custody. There is nobody, the last people you guys talked to, were sent home after an hour or so. You sucked.”  
“Want to tell that my boss?”  
“Why should I? It wouldn’t change a thing.”  
“What do you want here, Tom?” Sara asked, changing the topic.   
“I was looking for you.”  
“Why?”  
“My boss wants to talk to you because you were at the crime scene.”  
“Okay. Now?”  
“Yes.”  
“The Feds always want everything immediately because they’re important.” Greg snorted.   
“I’ll ignore that. Sara?”  
“I come.” Sara petted Greg’s shoulder. They had the order to cooperate and when the FBI wanted to see her, she would go and see them. 

“Don’t tell me you’ve got trouble.” Jules dropped her pen when Sofia walked into her office. There hadn’t been a reason for Misses Miller to see her for the last months, when Sofia was back now, Jules afraid it meant, there was a problem with Brian.   
“Okay, then I don’t tell you.”  
“Not funny!” Jules got up, closed the door behind Sofia and pushed her towards the couch. She got the can of coke out of her fridge, that was still in there and made herself a tea. With the steaming cup she sat in front of Sofia.   
“Tell me what’s wrong.”  
“Why do you think something is wrong?”  
“Because if you come here, you don’t want somebody else to hear what you’ve to tell me. Usually that means, you’ve some problems. Is it something with Brian? Had he been not nice to you?”  
“Brian is always nice to me, he’s lovely.”  
“Good. No fight?”  
“No!”  
“Good. So, what brings you here? Why not give me a call and I come to your place?”  
“I missed your couch.” Sofia grinned and laid on the couch, closed her eyes. She was tired. Could it be that the pregnancy made her already more tired and that she needed more sleep?  
“You’re obsessed with my couch.”  
“Kind of. Do you work the blue rose killer case again?”  
“So far nobody has asked me.”  
“Not even Nina?”  
“Nina is the last person, who would ask me. We separate work and private life as far as it’s possible.”  
“I’ve no idea how you guys do that.”  
“It’s pretty easy. Find something to talk about, like friends and plans.”  
“Do you talk about your friends like ordinary people?”  
“I didn’t know Nina and me are not ordinary people.” Jules chuckled.   
“You’re both…working too much in the heads of people. Can you talk about us without analyze us?”  
“It might surprise you but yes, we can do that.”  
“Good to know.” Sofia took Jules’ hand and played with the fingers.  
“But after you’re in my office I can go into your head. Tell me why you’re really here, Sofia. It’s not the couch, what is the real reason?”  
“You’re not very patient for a therapist.”  
“So I’m a bad therapist, fair enough. And you haven’t touched your coke. I kept it for you.”  
“Thanks, but no thanks. Can I have a little bit of your tea?”  
“Are you ill?” Jules furrowed her brows. Sofia thought her teas were disgusting, what made her ask for some tea?  
“I wouldn’t call it ill.”  
“Sofia!” Jules’s voice was slightly annoyed, what made Sofia smile. Seems like the therapist lost her patience when it got personal, when she worried about a friend.   
“I’ll move out of Greg’s apartment.”  
“What? Why? Did you fight with Greg?” Jules couldn’t imagine a fight between Greg and Sofia. As she couldn’t image that Greg asked Sofia to move out to have some more time alone with Janet.   
“No, of course not.”  
“Why do you want to move out? Did Brian ask you to move into with him?”  
“No, he didn’t.”  
“But?”  
“But I think it’s better when I move in with Brian.”  
“Why’s that? And don’t give a bloody short sentence, bitch. Answer my question in a way that won’t leave questions to me.”  
“A behave like that don’t give you points for being a good therapist…okay…don’t slap me! There’s a good reason why I want to move in with Brian and it has nothing to do with Greg or anybody else there. It just that I want my family to be together.”  
“Your family?”  
“Yes. I’m pregnant.”  
“What?” Jules’ eyes got wide open.   
“It wasn’t planed, it was an accident, but I think, it was the best accident, that ever happened to me. I’m in the ninth week and all the bad things about pregnancy, like sickness, have hit me. That’s how I found out. I’ll be a mommy in a few months. And I want my baby to be with his or her dad. Besides, when I’m working nights, there has to be somebody to take care of the baby. Or do you want to be my babysitter for free every night?”  
“You’re pregnant?! Wow. Congratulation!” Jules hugged Sofia. “Not the best way to tell me, but I’m happy anyway.”  
“Sorry, I wanted to see if you get it without help.”  
“I didn’t. How did Brian react?”  
“Better than I thought. I was very afraid he’d think I cheated on him because you used protection all the time. I needed some support of Sara, fell asleep in her bed and Brian found me there. I think he was a little bit jealous.”  
“Well, does he know…?”  
“Partly.”  
“Then you know why he was jealous.”  
“Yes. But after I told him why I was there, he was happy too. I’ll have a family, Jules. And it’s your fault!”  
“My?”  
“Yes, because of you I met Brian. Thanks Misses Therapist, you did a great job.” Sofia got up, pulled Jules in her arms and kissed her softly on the lips.   
“Oh. My. God.” Jules grabbed her chest. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for that kiss?”  
“No comment.” Sofia laughed and blinked at her friend. 

“You knew it and you didn’t say a word!” Jules poked her finger in Sara’s back.   
“Ouch. I knew what?”  
“Sofia.”  
“Oh. Yes.” Sara smiled. “Not my business to tell.”  
“I don’t like it that she’s pregnant.” Greg came with plates on his hands out of the kitchen.   
“Why?”  
“She’ll leave me. I don’t want to lose my roomy.”  
“Your roomy is pregnant and wants her new family to be together. That doesn’t work when he and the father don’t live together.”  
“He took my bitch away – and my baby puppy.”  
“I’m sure we’ll see her – once a week or so.”   
“That’s not funny, Sara.” Greg whined. Sofia had told him about her pregnancy earlier and that she wanted to move in with Brian to have her child and the father together in one house. It was understandable but Greg didn’t like it. He liked to share his apartment with Sofia, liked to spend time with her.   
“Jules doesn’t live here either and we see her more than one time a week.”  
“Yes, she’ll always here all the time as long as you’re here…Jules, I’ve a free room…”  
“No thanks, Greg. Nina and me will stay in my condo. We need our private space and time.”  
“I’m sure they do some kinds of ritual sex games there.”   
“Get yourself out of the gutter. We have an ordinary relationship.”  
“It’s hard to believe something is ordinary when you’re involved.” Sara hugged Jules. “You’re too special to be ordinary.”  
“But I have ritual sex games?”  
“I never said that. And I doubt you had any ritual sex games with Greg.”  
“Maybe he dreamed of that.”  
“The puppy looks innocent but I’m sure he isn’t that innocent.”  
“I’m sure I’m not as wild as Jules.”  
“Why should I have wild ritual sex games?”  
“You’re crazy as soon as you’re not a psychologist. You clock off and change from old school boring therapist to crazy tramp.”  
“Greg, I think my wild times are over.”  
“Yeah, since Nina is in your life you became more like a housewife.”  
“I hope the two of you won’t have discussions like that in front of the baby. Otherwise Sofia won’t come over to visit us.”   
“We’ll come over to her place.” Jules kissed Sara’s cheek. “Did you rest enough today?”  
“Huh? Yes. I slept. Why?”  
“Because of the blue rose killer. I want to make sure you’re alright.”  
“I don’t work the case.”  
“You were at the scene. You might end up at another scene very soon. Greggo, will you have a spare eye on Sara?”  
“I always have.”  
“Do you still baby me because I was shot a long time ago?” Sara sighed and rolled her eyes.   
“I worry about you because I love you.”   
“You don’t play fair.”  
“Sometimes the truth isn’t fair.”   
“I’ll be mad later.” Sara leant into Jules’ arms.   
“You two are so cute.” Greg smirked. “It’s really a shame that you’re not a couple anymore.”  
“Are Nina and I not cute?”  
“You are but in a different way. Nothing is as sexy as the two most beautiful women friends in the world.”  
“Woman friends? Means we’re the number two, Janet is ahead of us.”  
“Naturally as my girlfriend.”  
“I think we can accept that.” Sara got out of Jules’ arms. “And now, the puppy and me will leave and catch some bad guys. Come on, puppy.”  
“Yes bitch.”

“How can one person be so dumb?” Sara opened the box with the still warm pizza, that was next to a dead man.   
“If you want, you can ask the killer this question.” Sofia came in the kitchen. “I sent a black and white out to get the delivery guy.”  
“You kill a man and leave a hot pizza behind? Why?”  
“Maybe because you think by the time somebody finds him, the pizza is cold and nobody suspects you.”  
“We can tell when TOD was, we can see when the pizza was delivered.”  
“What we can’t see is if somebody else was in here and killed the man after he got the pizza. In that case we did exactly what the real killer wanted us to do, we assume the delivery guy is the killer.” Sofia checked the telephone on the wall. “The last call was to 555 736 245.”  
“The same number that’s printed on the pizza box. It’s a medium size, usually you order two pizza when you have somebody around.”  
“Not when the other person says, he or she isn’t hungry.”  
“True.” Sara bagged the pizza. “I still want the delivery guy as our killer. Nice and easy case.”  
“Since when don’t you want challenges?”  
“Since my private life has enough challenges to offer. Crying pregnant women, a puppy, who cries it’s eyes out because he has to live alone in his condo, a friend, who babies me.”  
“Sounds like hell on earth. I’ll go and talk to the neighbors, maybe they saw the delivery guy coming out of the house, covered in blood and a gun in his hands.”  
“I hope so.” Sara took some photos. Their victim was already on his way to the morgue. He had been shot, a single gunshot wound to the head. So far Sara hadn’t found a wallet. How do you pay your pizza if not with money? Another indication for the delivery guy. He sees the wallet, maybe it was full with money, wants it, the vic doesn’t want to give it, the killer shot him, takes the wallet and leaves. A nice big tip, that he had to pay with a long time in prison. If the delivery guy was the killer.   
Room by room Sara checked all windows. Everything was closed. She went to the front door and got some prints from the door handle and the bell. On the door mat she found some little stones and soil.   
“Nobody saw the delivery guy.” Sofia watched Sara bagging some paper.  
“You come here, deliver a pizza, see the guy in front of you has a lot of money in his wallet, you want the money, he doesn’t want to give you the wallet. Shouldn’t there be some signs of struggle? Of a fight?”  
“Yes.”  
“Unless you’ve a gun with you all the time and you just shoot the man. But I doubt the average delivery guy delivers pizza with a gun in his pockets.”  
“Do you suggest the killer came to this house to kill the owner?”  
“It doesn’t look like the killer became a killer out of the blue.”  
“Maybe he is a regular pizza order guy, the delivery guy sees his big wallet all the time and makes the decision, he’ll get this wallet somehow. He gets a gun, brings the pizza, shoots the man and leaves with the money.”  
“Possible.”   
“You find the evidence and I find the suspect. Stay safe, investigator.”  
“Ditto detective.”

Sara had finished her meeting with doc Robbins in the morgue. The victim died of a single gunshot wound to the head. The weapon was a .38 caliber and Sara had brought the bullet to ballistics and hoped for a hit. When she wanted to write her first report, she found Tom in the office.  
“Did the FBI kick you out of bed or do you suffer of insomnia?”  
“I take the third possibility, I wanted to see you.”  
“You save that. You wear your badge, you’re here on duty. What do you want, agent Silverton?”  
“You’re not the most kindest investigator here, are you?”  
“Why don’t you walk around, talk to all the others and find out yourself?”  
“I think, I know my answer. I’m here because of your case, Sara.” He ignored the fact that she had called him by his last name and his rang.   
“Are you not busy enough with the blue rose killer?”  
“You’ve a man shot by a delivery guy. We suppose the red rose killer is a delivery guy or has worked as one at one point. That makes me interested in your case.”  
“There was no blue rose around. Only a warm pizza. And COD was gunshot wound to the head and not poison. Unless your serial killer changed his signature and the way he kills, this isn’t the person you’re looking for. You can go home.”  
“Why are you so rude, Sara?”  
“Why do you try to get my cases, agent Silverton?”  
“I don’t try to steal your cases, Sara, I heard about your case and you know, we suspect the blue rose killer to work as a delivery guy or some kind like that. When you find a man shot and suspect a delivery guy, I get interested.”  
“Shouldn’t you sleep at this time? You’re day shift, there shouldn’t be any work information for you at this time.”  
“I’ve a phone next to my bed and people call me if there’s something, that might be connected to my cases.”  
“This isn’t.”  
“You really don’t want to have me around, do you?”  
“I’d like to write my report if you don’t mind. If you’re interested in my case you can get the report from the press officer. Or your boss contacts my boss and you get the report that way. Whatever suits you best.”  
“You throw me out?”  
“I tell you how to get my report. If you don’t leave me alone to do my job I’ve to ask a security guy to escort you out. I’m not interested in talking with you about my cases, I want to do my job without the FBI messing around my case.” Okay, maybe she wasn’t that nice at the moment but she had no intention that the FBI could get their hands on her case and take it away.   
“Okay, I leave you alone. What doesn’t mean I don’t have an eye on your case.”  
“As long as your eye stays far away I don’t case.” Sara sat on her desk and started her computer without turning back to the agent. Good, she behaved like a real bitch, but there was no reason in her eyes to be nice. He was here to get her case, he was here to take over. There was no evidence, that the blue rose killer was also the killer of her victim. Another COD and not signature, if Tom thought about it for a while – or asked his profiler – this wasn’t his serial killer. This somebody else. To work on her case was a waste of time too. He was free to ask for her report when she was done, he wasn’t welcome to work with her at this case and she wasn’t willing to talk to him about the case. 

“Do you want to go home?” Sofia caught Sara on her way out.  
“Yes. Why?”  
“The pizza guy is in. I thought you might want to join me and take your kit.”  
“You, a killer and overtime versus my bed, breakfast and some quality time on my balcony. What a hard decision.” Sara grinned. Most people had denied the offer of the detective. Why stay in longer when your shift is over and you have the night off? Lucky for Sofia, Sara wasn’t most people.   
“I knew you’d come with me.”  
“Can’t leave the two of you alone with a killer.” Sara smirked.   
“Ssh!” Sofia gave her the evil eyes. What if one of her colleagues heard Sara? Sofia had heard a few stupid comments about her wearing a bullet proofed vest all the time, she didn’t need more stupid comments about her being pregnant. First they had this rumor about her and Jules and now the pregnancy. She needed to tell her mom herself and not let the colleagues do that. Today she was invited to her mother’s place for dinner, the perfect time to tell her, she’d be a grandmother in a few months.   
Both women entered the interrogating room, where two men sat; one in a cheap black suit and one in jeans and FRESH HOT PIZZS shirt. Sometimes it was really easy to see who was the lawyer and who was the suspect.   
“Mister Melters, I’m detective Curtis, this is Miss Sidle with the crime lab, we’d like to ask you some questions.”  
“You arrested me.”  
“We were asked to come here.”  
“Yeah and if I hadn’t agreed, your officers would have handcuffed me.”  
“You are here and you’re not handcuffed. Did you work last night?”  
“Yes.”  
“Do you have a route, you drive every night?”  
“Henderson and it’s surroundings.”  
“Did you visit Sunrise Alley 481?”  
“I don’t remember all the addresses I drove to.”  
“Okay, your boss does. He gave you the order.”  
“If you know that, you know I was there. Or did the man complained he didn’t get a pizza and I got arrested because a pizza went missing? That’s ridiculous.”  
“Mister Melters, maybe it’s better when I talk for you.” The lawyer tried to interrupt his client.   
“We didn’t ask you to come here because of a missing pizza. But tell me, how do you know it’s a man who lived at the address?” Sofia asked. She never mentioned that the person, who lived at the place she named, was a man.   
“Most times men order pizza during the night.”  
“Mister Melters…”  
“What?”  
“I should…”  
“You can check our client list, most times men call us for pizza during the night.”  
“I’ve a warrant.” Sofia handed the paper to the lawyer.   
“Why do you want to test my client for GSR?”  
“What the hell is GSR?”  
“Gunshot residue.” Sara put on some gloves and got a cotton bud out of her kit.   
“I don’t own a gun.”  
“May I see your hands, please?”  
“What? Forget it!”  
“The warrant says we can do that. Ask you lawyer?”  
“I’m afraid the detective is right…”  
“Do something, for what do you get money?”  
“I can’t do anything, it’s a court order.”  
“Palms up, please.” Sara let the cotton bud ran over the hands of the man and used a second one for the sleeves of the shirt.   
“Satisfied?”  
“I’m glad to see you wash your hands, it’s free of GSR.”  
“Can I go now?”  
“Unfortunately”, Sara went on. “Your shirt is dirty.”  
“You want to keep me here for a dirty shirt? You must be kidding.”  
“I don’t make jokes. It’s not any kind of dirt I found on your sleeves, it’s GSR. You washed your hands, but GSR doesn’t stay on one place. Maybe you rubbed her hands over your sleeves, touched the sleeves before you washed the hands, whatever, but there’s GSR on it.”  
“I shot a few rounds in the garden earlier this night.”  
“Didn’t you just say you don’t own a gun?” Sofia asked.  
“I don’t. It belongs to a friend.”  
“Has this friend a name?”  
“I won’t tell you.”  
“In that case you’re the prime suspect in a murder case. Do you want your lawyer to explain to you what that means?”  
“You can’t arrest me for shooting a few rounds with my friend’s gun.”  
“Mister Melters, it would help if you tell the police the name of your…”  
“No!”  
“Sorry to interrupted.” Greg’s head appeared in the room. “Could I have a word with you, Sara?”  
“Sure.” Sara left the room.   
“You should listen to your lawyer, you get in trouble if you don’t give us the name of your friend. He’s your alibi. And even if this friend doesn’t own a license, his trouble will me much smaller than yours. Murder one can get you the needle.”  
“Why should I kill a man?”  
“Because he had something you wanted.” Sara came back in the room with two bags. “Like this wallet.” She put the plastic bag with a wallet on the table. “It’s not yours. The credit cars tells us, it belonged to the victim.”  
“I found it somewhere and wanted to bring it back to it’s owner.”  
Sofia shook her head. This man was full of lame excuses. He was better off to listen to his lawyer and shut up. Not that she wanted to complain, it made everything easier.   
“And the gun, my colleagues found in your car? Is it the gun of your nameless friend? Or did you find that one too?”  
“There isn’t a gun in my car.”  
“There was.” She put the gun on the table. “And if I match the prints on the gun to your guns and the bullet to the bullet we found in the head of the victim you go down for murder one. Last chance to talk.” She had to thank Greg to put in some overtime and check the car while she was here with Sofia. Her friend had found the evidence they needed to close the case.   
“I…”  
“Mister Melters, please, don’t talk anymore.” The lawyer tried again.  
“You’ll stay here a little bit longer, Mister Melters.” Sofia said. “Make yourself comfortable. We’ve got our evidence.” 

“You were right, he was too dumb.” Sofia gave Sara her cocktail. After they had closed their case, Sofia had taken the night off too. She had no idea how her mother would react to the news about Sofia’s pregnancy and she didn’t want to go to work and be a mess. It was complicated enough with all these hormones getting crazy in her body. Fortunately her mother was happy for her and looked forward to welcome her first grandchild. So Sofia had no problems to leave her after nine in the evening – after she promised to invite her parents to dinner very soon and introduce them to Brian – and met Sara, Jules and Janet in Double Choc. She knew, she couldn’t dance like before, but being pregnant didn’t mean, she had to stay in bed or on the couch all time. Brian had to work tomorrow morning, he was in bed, so why not go out with some friends? She didn’t want to lose her rhythm for one night.   
“I felt it when I saw the pizza.” Sara sipped on her cocktail. “What do you drink?” Sofia’s glass was filled with something colorful.   
“A mocktail. Don’t worry, I don’t drink any alcohol, I want a healthy and happy baby. I hope you don’t mind the music, Honey.” Sofia petted her belly. Sara tried to see any signs of the baby but there was nothing.   
“You don’t look pregnant.”  
“Thanks. I hope it stays that way a few more weeks.”  
“I look forward to see you with a huge baby belly.”  
“Why?”  
“Because I think it will suit you. And when the baby starts to kick, you’ll realize that you’re pregnant even more.”  
“Then I’ve you, bullying me from the outside and a baby, who does the same from the inside. Great.”  
“Poor Sofia.” Sara got Sofia in her arms. “I try to be nicer to you now that you’re not alone anymore. I don’t want to upset the baby.”  
“At least you care about my baby if you don’t care about me.” Sofia took Sara’s left hand and put it on her belly. “Can you feel anything? I mean, of course no kicks, but do you feel that I’m pregnant? I’ve the feeling every time I put my hand on my belly, I can feel that there’s somebody very close to my hand.”  
“I can’t feel a second life under my hand, no. But I can feel that you’re happier and more settled than before. I didn’t know you wanted a baby, detective.”  
“Neither did I until I was pregnant. After the first shock I could hug the whole world all the time. Come on, be my world, Sara.” Sofia pulled Sara in her arms and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be a mommy soon.”  
“Yes.”  
“And you’ll be a godmother.”  
“What?” Sara almost pushed Sofia away. That had to be a joke.  
“Sure. I’ve no sister, neither has Brian. His brother will be the godfather, we want you as the godmother.”  
“Why me?”  
“Why not?”  
“Because…I’m not a Catholic. Don’t you have to be Catholic to be a godmother?”  
“We’re also not Catholic, you need to be a Christian. I’m not quite sure how that works, but I don’t want you to teach my baby something about religion, I want my baby to have somebody, who’ll be there if something happens to Brian and me.”  
“Your mom?”  
“Sara, if you don’t want to be a godmother just tell me.”  
“I feel a little bit awkward to be Don Vito. I don’t think I’m good with children and I’ve no idea what they want.”  
“Why shouldn’t you be good with children?”  
“Because my childhood was a disaster.”  
“Maybe, but you’re great adult and that’s what count. But if you don’t want to be the godmother I’ll ask somebody else.”  
“If you and Brian want me to be the godmother and you think, I can be a good godmother, I’ll do it. But Jules will hate you for that. First you tell me first about the baby and then you make me the godmother.”  
“Please, the godmother of my child can’t be a psychologist, I want somebody with a real job to be…ouch. She slapped a pregnant woman.” Sofia turned. She had seen Jules and Nina coming to them, that’s why she made the comment about her job.   
“I slapped a bitch.”  
“Do that again, doc, and I’ll let you arrest.” Sara got Sofia back in her arms. “Leave the detective and my godchild alone.”  
“A CSI as a godmother. Your baby could have two doctors, who care for it.”   
“I don’t like doctors.”  
“Not?”  
“No…well…I mean…fuck…Sara?” Sofia looked at Sara.   
“She likes you and Nina as long as you’re her friends. When you around as doctors, especially as a doctor of the FBI, you’re not that welcome. Usually a doctor means trouble.”  
“A profiler helps you.” Nina smiled.   
“Profiler doesn’t sound like doctor.”  
“But we are both.”  
“That’s the problem with the two of you.”  
“Exactly. And I thought first of you as a the godmother for my baby, Jules. After all, it was your office where I met Brian. But then that was the reason why I took Sara. I didn’t want to be reminded all the time that I was such an idiot. Unable to do what all other people do.”  
“You were never an idiot, you had a trauma and I supported you. But I understand your reason. Let me be the godmother of the next child.”  
“Which next child?” Sofia furrowed her brows.  
“There’ll be only one child?”  
“Uhm…we haven’t talked about that. I want to have this one first. After I gave birth for the first the time, I know if I want to have that again.”  
“Good decision.”

Sara had taken a break from dancing. It was after midnight, Sofia was sitting with Nina on a sofa and talked while Jules was on the dance floor. Sara had talked to her ex, the bar keeper for a while, they would meet for kickboxing next week. It was time for her to train again otherwise her twenty years of material art wasn’t worth a lot. He was a kickboxing coach, she was specified more in karate and self-defending, so it was interesting to learn some new things. And she liked spending time with him, they had never any problems after their break-up. Something Sara really appreciated.   
“If I buy you a drink, will you spill it into my face?”  
She turned when she heard the words. “Are you stalking me, agent Silverton?” What was the FBI agent doing here? Wasn’t it enough that he had annoyed her last night when she was working? Had he to broaden that into her past time?   
“And if I did, would you call the police?”  
“I think I can handle you myself.”  
“Really?”  
“Yes.”  
He smiled. “So tell me, would you spill the drink into my face?”  
“Depends on the drink. Something I like I wouldn’t waste on your face.”  
“Charming. Are you always such a bitch?”  
“Yes.”  
“Good to know. What can I buy you?”  
“How about a flight ticket for yourself? To Australia or something like that.”  
“You ever thought of that you might hurt people with your way, Sara?”  
“If I care about the people, I don’t hurt them. If they annoy me, stalk me, bother me, I’ve no reason to be nice.”  
“You want me to leave?”  
“I can’t remember I ever asked you to come to me.”  
“That’s not an answer.”  
“It is. You tried to be a profiler, read between the lines.”  
“I do. The problem is, you don’t make it easy for me to read between the lines. There’re so many obvious messages with your words, that it’s kind of hard to understand, what you really say.”  
“I thought I was clear.”  
“You’re a classic double – bind.”  
“I told you to get lost and you think I really said: stay? Now I know why you won’t be a profiler. You suck.”  
“I see Jules taught you some psychology things.”  
“Looks like I was a good student, the opposite of you.”   
“I don’t think so.”  
“Not?”  
“No.” He pulled her in his arms and kissed her. A second later he slipped slowly down, stopped for a moment on his knees before he landed face down on the floor. Sara stepped a step back and before she could do anything more, a security guy was next to her.   
“I’ll get him out of here, Sara. Don’t worry.”   
Maybe it was her job to tell Kyle, the security man, to leave Tom alone. But she just looked how the agent was escorted out of the club.   
“What did happen?” Jules was next to her friend.  
“He kissed me.”  
“And Kyle throws him out for that?”  
“Well, I got my knee in his crotch, he fell on the floor and for Kyle it looked like Tom tried to hit on me and I showed him his limits. He only wants to help me.”  
“Okay…” Jules looked at Sara. “He kissed you?”  
“Yes.”  
“Since when do you get aggressive when somebody kisses you?”  
“Since I didn’t ask for this kiss. Actually I asked him to leave me alone. I say that the whole time and all he understands is something. Come closer, bother me, stalk me, annoy me. Apparently I am a classic double – bind.”  
“Do you think he deserves to been thrown out?”  
“I didn’t ask Kyle to do so.”  
“You didn’t do anything to stop him.”  
“No. You think I should go out and get Tom back in?”  
“At least bring him his jacket. It looks quite expensive.”  
“Real leather. I don’t want to know how many animals had to die for that.”  
“I’m sure there’s some real leather on some of your shoes too. Go, give him his jacket.”  
“Okay.” Sara sighed. She got the jacket, Tom left at the front door, and walked outside. He sat a few yards away on a bench.   
“You forgot something.” She threw the jacket on his lap.  
“Stubborn nightmare.” He mumbled.   
“Thanks.” The best sentence he could give her to turn around and go back inside the club. There was no reason to talk to him anymore after he offended her.   
“You liked what the bouncer did?”  
“I didn’t ask him neither did I need him. You were on the ground before he was there.”  
“But actually he did exactly what you wanted, he threw me out and you can go in, I don’t bother you anymore.”  
“The problem is, you can go on at work.”  
“Don’t worry, I won’t talk to you anymore. Only if I have to. I can’t understand why Jules is a friend of yours. Why she loves you. And I absolutely don’t understand why I like you. I must be a great idiot.”  
Sara stopped. Why did he know that Jules loved her? Usually people said, Jules liked her. But he chose ‘loved’ and he meant it like love. He knew it was a special friendship, that their relationship was more and he also knew, that the love between Jules and Sara was something, that wasn’t like a love between lovers. And why the hell did he like her?   
“You know, you’re not banned from the premises, you can go in again. The next bus will be here in half an hour, it’s cold.”  
“Why should you care?”  
That was good question. She wanted him to leave her alone, now he was here, she could go inside and he couldn’t bother her anymore.   
“Tom…”  
“What?”  
Okay now it was his turn to make it hard for her. Fair enough. When she was honest to herself, she didn’t deserve it any other way.   
“I’m sorry.” Was she? Really?   
“For what that you did or what the bouncer did? Or none of them?”  
Good question.   
“That Kyle threw you out.”  
“But not for your knee?”  
“No. If you kiss a woman without her permission you have to live with the risk, she won’t like it make you feel that.”  
“So you didn’t like my kiss?”  
Bad question. For that moment, this little second, she had kissed him back. She knew and even worse, he knew it too. Just one moment, then her defense modus had taken over and she had kicked him in the crotch.   
“Maybe I prefer to be asked first.”  
“Not very romantic.”  
“To quote you: I’m a stubborn nightmare, the word romantic never fell.”   
“I know I annoy you. I’d like to stop it, the problem is, I can’t. Unfortunately my mind doesn’t work the way it’s suppose to work when it comes to you. I know I should stay away, but my feet always carry me back to you. I know I should leave you alone, but my arms want to hold you. I know I should shut my mouth but my lips want to kiss you. I know I should shut…”  
“Just shut up, for one time, will you?” She stopped him.   
“Sorry, I told you I try…”  
“Just…bit your teeth together, okay?”  
“Mkay.”  
She sat next to him. “I’m sorry for being such a bitch all the time. I don’t know why I act like that. Something about you makes me react like a stubborn nightmare and I can’t explain what it is. What I can tell you is, that I did the same with Sofia and now we’re really good friends. It’s maybe not what you want to hear but maybe it shows you that only because I act like a bitch it doesn’t have to mean I don’t like you I just…” The rest was washed away by another kiss. This time Sara sat, she couldn’t use her knee. And this time she responded the kiss for longer than a second and she didn’t hurt him. She only moved her lips half an inch away.   
“Didn’t I tell you a few seconds ago that I like to be asked.”  
“Yes, but I told you that’s not very romantic. But when you insist: Sara may I kiss you?”  
“For Christ’s sake: yes!” She pulled his head to her and kissed him. Okay, maybe she liked him too. But there was no way she would tell him! 

“If you dare to get up and leave the thing with the knee was nothing compares to what will happen to you then.” Sara grumbled when she felt how Tom’s body slipped out of her arms. She had her eyes still closed, didn’t feel like facing the world already.  
“Maybe you should talk to Jules, I think you’ve got an anger issue.”  
“I was in therapy for that.”  
“Obviously it didn’t help, so it wasn’t Jules.”  
“No, it wasn’t her. I’m sure she could help me, but you’re not supposed to be friend with the patient, so she can’t help me.”  
“I’ll ask her to make an exception for my sake. Am I allowed to go to the bathroom?”  
“Okay.” She let him get up. Wasn’t that crazy? First she injured him, then she followed him out, she let him kiss her again…kiss him back and at the end they ended up in her bed. That wasn’t her plan when she left for a night out. All she wanted was to dance, spent time with her friends, have some fun. Okay, she had all of these things.   
“There are two naked women on your couch.”  
“Let me guess: you work with both of them.”  
“Yes.”  
“That means the detective is in the guest room. It’s not usual that they all crash in my apartment.”  
“I though Sofia lives next door.”  
“She started to get her things over to Brian, there’s no bed anymore, only some boxes with things. The bed in the guest room is always fresh, waiting for somebody. In Greg’s guest rooms you have to make the best first.”  
“Okay.” He pulled her in his arms. “I don’t mind to be in an apartment with four women.”  
“They’re all not interested in you.”  
“Not even you?” He teased softly. There had been this bitchy sound in Sara’s voice, like the most times when she talked to him.  
“Not if you have your eyes on other women. In fact, I’ll kick you out – and this it’s not the front door, it will be the balcony door. Hard enough to give you a free fall experience.”  
“There’s the anger issue again. You’re latent aggressive, Sara.”  
“If you want to stop that you don’t talk to me like somebody who thought of being a profiler one day. I hate this psychological shit. Talk like an agent.”  
“You don’t like the FBI.”  
“I prefer an agent over a psychologist.”  
“Then I made the right decision.”  
“I hope I can say the same about my decision.”  
“I think the job as a CSI suits you perfect.” He kissed her hair, knowing she wasn’t talking about her job.   
“Mhm. Careful, agent.”  
“I am. After all, I met your knee.”  
“As far as I remember it didn’t leave any damage.”  
“Luckily not.”  
“It’s was only a little example of what will happen if you want to fool around. Over twenty years of material art and I swear, I’ll show you every lection I’ve learnt.”  
“You know how to start a relationship with harmony and trust, don’t you?”  
“I like to be straight forward and make things clear.”  
“Fair enough. I won’t fool around, too painful. And I won’t tell you to change from night to day because you won’t do that. We will work with that. Like we’ll work with the situation when we’re both at the same crime scene and I’ve to take over your case. I hope you won’t take the anger home and introduce me to your material art skills.”  
“I don’t do that with Nina.”  
“Good. Anything else we have to get out of the way?”  
“I won’t change my way of cooperation with the Feds.”  
“As I won’t tell you things we’ve found out and we don’t want anybody out of the FBI to know.”  
“That means we’re even.”  
“Exactly. One more question. Do I always have to ask if I can kiss you or can I just kiss you? Without ending on the floor and a lot pain.”  
“You didn’t ask the last times.”  
“So it was only about the first kiss? Good.” He pulled her in his arms and kissed her. “I prefer to kiss than to talk.”  
“Sounds good to me.”  
“Yuck Sara, you’re kissing a Fed!” Jules stood in the open door.   
“Uhm.” Sara looked at her friend, not really surprised to see her. Jules had a light sleep, Sara was sure, she woke up when Tom went to the bathroom. And of course her friend had to tease her with her new lover. “Don’t you do the same?”  
“No. Yes. It’s different. She’s a profiler and not an agent.”  
“FBI is FBI. Besides, I can remember when you tried to talk me into this.”  
“You tried to talk Sara into a relationship with me?” Tom asked surprised.   
“Yes. For a Fed you’re quite alright and I didn’t like the fact that she was alone, even when she said, she was fine. Her male nurse I wanted for her in the first place, is taken, that left you. Or somebody from the club but after the last disappointment I thought, she needs somebody solid.”  
“You hear that? I’m somebody solid.”  
“Yes, very solid. Until you find two naked women on the couch.”  
“I only told you in case you didn’t know.”  
“We weren’t naked.” Jules furrowed her brows.  
“Not? Pity. I didn’t look that close, only saw a naked leg.”  
“Are you sure you want him for me, Jules?”  
“I’m sure you’ll teach him how to behave. And if you dare to hit on my girlfriend, I’ll do the same to you what Sara did in the club yesterday. Only harder.”  
“This is a very aggressive area, I don’t need to be a profiler to feel that.”  
“No, they’re only warning you to make sure, you know the rules and don’t get hurt.” Nina appeared next to Jules, got her arm around her lover and put her head on Jules’ shoulder. “Nice to see you, Tom.”  
“Is there a meeting in Sara’s bedroom?” Sofia’s head appeared out of the blue. “Yuck, you’ve got an agent in your bed, Sara. Did he put something in your drink to get there?”  
Sara chuckled. It was good that all her friends reacted the same way.   
“I don’t feel very welcome here.”  
“That will change. Give them some time and you won’t get called the agent anymore.” Nina tried to hide a smile.   
“How long did it take until they accept you?”  
“They did immediately. When we met first, I wasn’t working for the FBI, I was only a trainee to become a profiler. When they found out I’d work with the FBI, they liked me already.”  
“Okay, I’ll give them some time.” Tom’s cell phone rang. At the same time there was a sound from out of the living room. Nina’s cell phone. It was obvious to all of them that the phones rang because of something work related and that it had probably something to do with the blue rose killer.   
Tom checked his message. “I need to go.”   
“I guess me too.” Nina kissed Jules. “The day off is over. Bugger.”  
Tom looked at Sara. “Sorry for that.”  
“It’s part of the packet. I won’t ask for details.”  
“I call you later.”  
“Okay.”

“You’re fast.” Sara thought she was the first one at the scene. She had heard via police radio that there had been a robbery and drove straight from her old crime scene, which was only eight blocks away, to the new one.   
“I was around the corner, arrived with the ambulance.”   
“Somebody injured?”  
“A woman, paramedics are on her.” They entered the house. The front door got them straight in the living room, where two paramedics were next to a woman on the floor. Both worked concentrated and no time to look at Sofia and Sara.   
“I don’t see any blood.” Sara looked closer.   
“There is no blood. First hit is free and sometimes all you need to get a person out of your way. Can she talk?” Sofia asked the paramedics.   
“She’s in a kind of coma, we need to stable her, her pulse slows down. We need to get her out of here.”  
“Do it.” No reason to keep the woman here. She wasn’t a help if she died here, she was more helpful alive in Desert Palms, even if it would take a few hours before she could talk.   
They rushed out with the woman on the stretcher.   
“Did she call 911?” Sara asked.  
“No, the neighbor. She said, she saw a person enter the house. Miss Harrison told her this afternoon, she was looking forward for a quite night. She just split off from her boyfriend and apparently there she was harassed by the new girlfriend. When the neighbor saw somebody enter the door without Miss Harrison opening the door, she called 911. Patrol was here five minutes later, found her on the floor, called paramedics. I arrived with them, couldn’t talk to the victim, so I had a short conversation with the neighbor.”  
“Did the neighbor describe the burglar?”  
“Average height, black clothes, she didn’t see a face, so she couldn’t give me a real description. Moved more like a young person.”  
“Maybe she can tell you more later.”  
“Yeah. I’ve sent some officers down the street to get statements.”  
“Did the burglar drive here?”  
“The neighbor didn’t mention a car.”  
“Probably he parked around the corner.”  
“I’ll go to Desert Palms, see if they can stable her fast so that she gives me something more. If she saw the face of the burglar, it’s almost as good as an ID.”  
“True. I’ll have a look around for some evidence, maybe it’s a dumb burglar again.”  
“I doubt we’ll have two of them…” Sofia stopped. Something dropped on the upper level. Both looked at the stairs next to the front door.   
“Did you secure the scene?”  
“I wasn’t through the whole house, thought the officers did that.” Sofia drew her gun. “Maybe it’s only a cat or a dog.”  
“Or the burglar.”  
“You stay here.”  
“Sure and I wait until you tell me I can open my eyes again.”  
“Why do you always have to discuss this with me?” The last time Sofia had allowed Sara to follow her, Sara got shot. There was no way Sofia would go through this again. It wasn’t Sara’s job to secure a scene.   
“Because you start the discussion all the time.” And because Sara thought of the same thing like Sofia did, only in her thoughts, it was good that she got shot. If Sofia had been alone, the man had shot her and there wouldn’t have been somebody around to help, like she did with Sara. Sara preferred to be shot than a dead Sofia.   
“This time I’m sure nobody is down here, you stay behind me.”  
“I’m always behind you, detective.” Sara got her gun.   
Carefully they walked to the stairs.   
“LVPD, identify yourself and come down. Slowly!” No answer. Both wore their bullet proofed vest, but it was only a little security. A shot to the head and the vest was useless.   
No sound was coming from the upper level. If it was a dog or a cat, the pet could be hiding somewhere. If it was the burglar, he was hiding too.   
“Suspect possible on the premises, we need some back-up inside and make sure, nobody leaves the building through a window.” Sofia said in her cell phone and started to climb the stairs. Step by step they made their way up, knowing this was a place, they were very vulnerable. Plus the knowledge that Sara got shot while they were climbing the stairs.   
They made it up the stairs and stood in a hallway. Three closed doors were up here. One to the left, one to the right, one in the middle. Sofia pointed to the door on the right. They had no idea what was behind any of these doors, all they could do was trying their luck. One on the left side of the door, one on the right, Sara opened the door and both kept their breath for a second. Nothing. Sofia took a look around the corner. Bathroom and she looked right into the shower. The curtain was closed. The safest way was to shoot through the curtain. There was no cover, if one of them walked to the shower, the burglar could just shoot her.   
Sara bent down, got her left shoe and threw it into the shower. The curtain moved a bit, the shoe fell on the shower floor. Nobody was in the shower. They had a look behind the door and were sure, this room was clear. Two more to go. Two bedrooms?   
Again one was on each side of the door, Sara opened the door. Nothing. Again. This time it was an office. They saw a desk, a cabinet and some shelves filled up with books. The best place to hide was behind the desk, it was closed so they couldn’t see if anybody was behind. Sara walked to the desk from the right, Sofia from the left side. With one look they made the decision to make the last step together, ready to shoot. All they found was a rubbish bin full with paper. That left one room to go.   
“I can hear back-up.” It seemed like the officers were back from talking with the neighbors. They could simply wait here until back-up was there and go to the third room. If anybody was upstairs, this person had to be there.   
“We can…” Sofia didn’t have the time to end her sentence. There was an explosion and at the same moment she lost the ground under her feet. A second explosion. She hit the floor. Hard. Sara was next to her, her gun in her hands and Sofia realized, the explosions were bullets. There were voices from downstairs, the officers had heard the shots.   
Sara rolled on her side and peered around the desk.   
“I got her.”  
“Her?”  
“It was a woman, I’m sure about that. And there’s blood on the carpet, I must have hit her.” Sofia looked around the desk and saw blood and two officers.   
“Suspect shot at us, I don’t where she is…Sara?”  
“I can’t tell you, I saw her, the gun, and got down while I fired. There’s a bathroom, we were in there, the other room must be the bedroom.”  
“We’ll try the bedroom.”  
“Suspect is armed and dangerous.” Sofia got on her feet and wanted to follow the officers. Sara grabbed and stopped her.   
“What the…?”  
“The two of you will leave that to the officers!” The two of you. If Sofia forgot that she was pregnant, Sara didn’t. And there was no way she’d allow Sofia to go into the bedroom first. This wasn’t about rank, this was about her unborn child.   
“Okay.”  
Sofia took position behind the doorframe of the office, Sara got halfway down the stairs and covered the officers that way.   
The officers opened the door and were fast enough to get some cover behind the wall because some bullets greeted them. Neither Sofia nor Sara could see the woman, she had to be somewhere hidden. Sara’s head turned. The bullets were a yard above her, this way she could reconstruct where the shooter was. She pointed in the direction to tell the two officers and let the officers know, she’d shoot twice to give them some cover. When they nodded she shot, they went in and more bullets flew. One ended over Sara again, the rest she didn’t see, but she heard somebody moaning. It sounded like a woman.   
“Suspect down! Get the paramedics in!”  
“Okay.” Sara ran down the stairs and got the paramedics in. They were waiting outside, probably one of the officers had called them.   
“Suspect down, second floor.”  
“Alright.”  
Sara sat down. She had no idea if the woman upstairs was dead or injured, but she knew, she didn’t like bullets flying around her head. But another case was closed. They had their burglar or killer, depends on what the victim was doing.   
“Are you alright?” Sofia sat next to her.  
“Yes. I wanted some fresh air. What happened to the woman?”  
“She’s injured, nothing serious. The paramedics will fix her and we’ll take her down to the department.”  
“You’ll go to Desert Palms.”  
“Why? I’m okay.”  
“You fell.”  
“Yes.”  
“Don’t play with the health of my godchild. Go there, tell them you fell, let them check you and come back. It won’t take long and it gives you and me the security that everything is alright.”  
“Okay, I do it for the baby.”  
“Thanks.”  
“I should thank you, Sara. You saved me. We’re working, it’s my job to protect you.”  
“I’m the godmother, I’ve to take care of my godchild. I saved my godchild, if that means, I’ve to save you too, I do that, detective.” Sara blinked at her.   
“No comment on that. I’ll see you later.”  
“Yes. I’ll get some evidence so we can close the case before noon.”  
“Perfect.”  
“That’s us.” They were a really good team. In every way. 

It took Sofia two hours before she was back at the department. By this time her suspect was booked, fingerprints were taken, her lawyer had arrived and they were ready to start the interview.   
“Where are you?” Sofia had called Sara, she wanted the investigator to join her.   
“Still in the lab, I work on some evidence. How long can you keep the suspect?”  
“Emily Procter will at least stay until the end of the interview. If you have anything that gives us reasons to keep her, tell me.”  
“I work on something.”  
“Something good?”  
“Very good. But I won’t tell you anything until I know it for sure.”  
“Will you come over with your evidence?”  
“Yes. In case she wants to go before, give me a call and I’ll come with what I’ve got.”  
“Okay.” Sofia closed her cell phone. Time to close the case and go home. She didn’t want to spend a lot of time with the burglar. They caught her in the act, there was no way she could deny she was in a house she didn’t belong in and the fact that the owner of the house was in hospital, didn’t speak for a friendly visit.   
“Miss Procter, I’m detective Curtis.” Sofia sat opposite of the woman. She guessed the burglar in her early twenty, well dressed with intelligent eyes. Not the kind of women Sofia had picked as a burglar, but you can’t look inside somebody’s head.   
“You’re charged with assault, breaking and entering and possession a weapon.” The woman didn’t answer, she didn’t seem to be very interested in Sofia or her words, although her eyes showed, she understood them very well. A bandage on her arm showed where the officers had hit her. A grazing shot, nothing serious, nothing that needed treatment in hospital.   
“My client didn’t break into the house, she was let in.”  
“Is that so?” Sofia cocked her head. The lawyer was in his late fifties, she had worked a few cases with him, he wasn’t the best one, but he was cheap.   
“Did you find any signs of breaking and entering?”  
“We’re still processing the scene. If your client was invited, I wonder why she didn’t call an ambulance when Miss Harrison fell and needed some help.”  
“My client was upstairs in bed. She was tired, needed some sleep and didn’t notice that Miss Harrison needed help.”  
“And she didn’t wake up when the police arrived, the ambulance took Miss Harrison to hospital?”  
“She has a good sleep.”  
“Apparently. And she shot at the police because…?”  
“She didn’t know it was the police, she thought there were burglars.”  
“That is a nice story. I was in the house. Let’s go with your story for a moment. Your client falls asleep, Miss Harrison fell, we arrive, the ambulance takes Miss Harrison to hospital, CSI wants to process the scene. I was in the house, was about to leave when I heard somebody upstairs. Somebody very awake. I called out for the person upstairs, identified myself and told her to come down. Your client didn’t response, instead she shot at the police.”  
“Anybody can say he or she is the police.”  
“That’s lame. One look out of the window and she had seen police cars.”  
“My client was horrified.”  
“Your client left the bedroom when my colleague and I were in the office, she shot at us, I doubt a burglar wears a CSI vest.”  
“They come up to your house, dressed up like a cop, only to get in without any problems. You don’t have any evidence that support my client broke in the house or did anything in bad intention.”  
“Let me guess: you want me to let your client walk away.”  
“She didn’t do anything.”  
“She shot at the police.”  
“She thought, they were dressed up burglars.”  
“Oh please, you can’t be serious.” A knock on the door got their attention. Sara entered the room, a brown paper bag in her hands.   
“Good morning, I’m Sara Sidle with the crime lab.”  
“Good to see you. Mister Klein wants me to let his client walk because we don’t have anything on her. Apparently she was a guest and slept, that’s why she didn’t call an ambulance.”  
“Really? Interesting. Do you recognize these?” Sara put bagged gloves on the table.   
“That’s gloves. There are millions of gloves like these in Vegas. How can my client be sure that she had seen these two before?”  
“Okay, I rephrase my question. Did you wear gloves like these today?”  
“I can’t see any relevance.”  
“I found her fingerprints in these gloves.”  
“So she wore gloves, who cares? Many people wear gloves when they wash the dishes or do some housework.”  
“But your said she was tired and slept, why would she wear gloves when she’s in bed?”  
“She used them before. I’m sure you found them in the kitchen and not in the bedroom.”  
“No, they were in the bedroom. Under the bed, a real strange place to but your gloves, don’t you think?”  
“They fell and ended up there. I’m sure Miss Harrison won’t complain.”  
“Your stories are unlikely. But good that you mention Miss Harrison. I talked with the hospital before I came here. Do you know what happened to her?”  
“How can we know? My client slept.”  
“Right. Miss Harrison was poisoned.”  
“And you want to pin that on my client? Do you have any evidence for that? Any motive?”  
“I didn’t find any strychnine at your client.”  
“She didn’t poisoned Miss Harrison. She has no reason.”  
“I’m sure she has a reason, like she had her reason for the other ten victims.”  
“Ten? You’re making a serial killer out of my client?”  
Instead of an answer, Sara got another plastic bag out of the paper bag and put it on the table.   
Sofia forgot for a moment to breathe. Was Sara serious? Did Sofia’s eye play her a practical joke? Was it real what she saw? She didn’t dare to look at Sara.   
“What does that mean?” The lawyer asked.   
“That means we’ll have a break here because it looks like your client is involved in another case and we don’t work this case. Officer, could you bring Mister Klein and his client to a separate room? And make very sure Miss Proctor will stay there. Take some back-up” Sara said.   
The officer left the room the get some help.  
“What do you mean?”  
“Your client can explain that to you.” Sara leant back and watched how two officers brought Emily Proctor and her lawyer out of the room.   
“Are you serious?” Sofia asked when they were alone.  
“Yes.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“I’m not, but everything points toward the fact, that we’re not allowed to investigate the case anymore.”  
“That means, I’ve to call Brass.”  
“No, you don’t. Greg did that already. I’m sure everybody will be here within a few minutes.”  
“We’ll get in trouble.”  
“Why?”  
“Because…who did find it?”  
“I did.”  
“At that moment you were supposed to call Grissom.”  
“It wasn’t like all the others cases. When I found it, I went straight back to the lab, started to work the evidence I had. When the hospital called and told me what happened to Miss Harrison, I asked Greg to go on with the evidence and came here. He called my cell phone when he finished and got the result, I thought he’d get and then he called the Undersheriff.”  
“I can’t believe the case might be closed.”  
“I hope so.”  
“Yes.” Sofia took the plastic bag in her hands. A blue plastic rose. Like the ones they had found at all the scenes of the blue rose killer.   
“She’s fits the profile so far.” Sofia turned the bag.  
“Yes.”  
“And it’s the same rose?”  
“Yes, same brand, same material, everything like all the others.”  
“And I thought we were chasing a burglar when we walked up the stairs.”  
“So did I.”  
“I hope otherwise you had called us immediately.” Agent Gellers entered the room. She was the replacement of agent Copper, a rough forty something woman with short black hair and hard gray eyes. Behind her were Tom, Nina and half a dozen other agents. At the end of the FBI group were Grissom, Brass, Ecklie, the Sheriff and the Undersheriff.   
“Of course.” Sara didn’t move. “You were informed as soon as we knew, we could possible deal with the blue rose killer.”  
“Where is she?”  
“In a separate room with her lawyer, two officers in front of the door.”  
“We need the evidence.”  
“Greg is on his way and will bring everything we’ve got. The gloves here have her prints on, the plastic rose is the same we found at the other scenes. That should be enough to hold her for a while.”  
“We’ll take it from here.” Agent Gellers looked at her forensic people. “Get the evidence, work it now and give me the results ASAP. I want two agents in front of the room with this woman, I want them to follow her wherever she walks. I want the house of the scene searched, find me more evidence, find me everything I need to get her. And bring me information about her. NOW!”

“You’re the best.” Sara hugged Greg and kissed him.   
“I did only what you asked me for.”  
“You did that very fast.”  
“That’s my job.” He smiled and kept Sara in his arms.   
“Good puppy.” She whispered in his ear.   
“Thanks, bitch.”  
“Did you give the evidence to the FBI?” Sofia asked.   
“Yes, they took everything and will re-work it. Tell me, how is she?”  
“She didn’t say a word, her lawyer talked.”  
“Do you think she could be the killer?”  
“Everything points in that direction.”  
“And the vic?”  
“There are four FBI agents with her, I think, as soon as she opens her eyes, she’ll be asked a lot of questions.”  
“And we watch them here?”  
“I intend to do so.” Sara saw no reason to go anywhere before she didn’t know the woman, who shot at her tonight, was the blue rose killer or not.   
“You don’t like rules, do you, Sara?” Tom came out of the room.  
“Depends on the rules.”  
“Be honest, how long did you wait until you called us?”  
“You were informed as soon as we knew this could be a blue rose killer case.”  
“You found the rose?”  
“Yes.”  
“Did you call then?”  
“Tom, the rose was far away from the victim. I’m sure there are a few people in Vegas, who has blue plastic roses in their house. I didn’t know at that time the vic was poisoned, I didn’t have any evidence, that the woman, who got arrested, was a serial killer. I took the rose, went back to the lab and when Greg found out it’s the same rose, he called. Before that was sure, the odds were better for the rose was nothing more than an indication of bad taste.”  
“Where did you find the rose?”  
“In the bedroom. The vic was down in the living room.”  
“Where exactly?”  
“Under the bed, like the gloves. That why I took them with me.”  
“So it was possible that the suspect, who had been in the bedroom, put them there.”  
“Of course. Just like the three pair of shoes, the underwear, the old magazine, two different socks, three…”  
“I get your point.”  
“Good.”   
“You made sure you won’t get any trouble.”  
“I did everything like I’m suppose to do it. Work the scene and if you find out, this case belongs to the serial killer, call the FBI.”  
“And you like to be one hundred percent sure?”  
“Yes. I don’t like disappointments.” Her eyes told him, she was not only talking about work.   
“Nobody does. I need to go back inside. We need a full report of you. And the two of you.” He looked at Greg and Sofia.  
“You’ll get it.” Sofia simply said.  
“Okay. Thanks.” He turned and walked back into the interrogation room.  
“I guess, you’re in trouble.” Sofia guessed. “Not the best start for you.”  
“He’ll survive. Can we write our reports in your office?”  
“I think so. This way we’re here when they start to talk to her.”  
“Girls, the two of you might have caught a serial killer, the FBI wasn’t able to get. You’re the greatest and I’m proud of you.” Greg got his arms around each woman.   
“We do what we can.” Sara chuckled.   
“Yes, we’re there to protect and serve.”  
“And look cool while we do that.”   
“And sexy.”  
“Adorable, simply you.” Greg grinned. 

Sara closed her eyes. She had slept for five hours and was still a little bit tired. But it had been worth to cut some sleep. They had watched how the FBI had arrested Emily Proctor for killing all the blue rose victims. The woman would stay in custody and it was planed to get her somewhere else than Vegas.   
“Where did you get this bruise?” Jules let her index finger run softly over Sara’s arm. A new bruise was there. They sat on Sara’s hammock on the balcony, had some pizza in front of them and enjoyed the evening sun.   
“When I dove because Proctor shot at us.”  
“She did what?”  
“Yeah, when we were in the office, she came out of the bedroom and shot at us. Sara got us down, she saved my life, did my job.” Sofia protested with a smile. She sat on her chair, her feet on the railing.  
“Did one of you get hurt?”  
“No, we’re all three fine.” Sofia petted her belly. “Baby puppy is fine too, Sara made me go to Desert Palm to check. She takes care of her godchild.”  
“Of course.”  
“Maybe you should work in an office the next months.” Jules suggested.  
“Over my dead body!”  
“No, for the health of your child.”  
“As long as I can wear a bullet proof vest I’ll be out in the fields. I’m sure my belly will be soon enough too big for the vest anyway.”  
“And then everybody will put their hands on your belly to feel the baby.” Sara grinned.  
“I’ll shoot them. My belly isn’t private property. Only because I’m pregnant it doesn’t mean everybody can touch me. I’ll get very aggressive.”  
“Good to know, I’ll stay away.”   
“You’re the godmother, you’re allowed to put your hand on my belly. Your godchild needs to feel you, needs to get to know you.”  
“Will I get shoot?”  
“No, you’re the reason why I’m pregnant.”  
“Uhm…I thought Brian did that. I was never that close to you – not my fault by the way that it never happened.”  
“Yes, but without you, I had never met him.”  
“Okay, so I won’t get shoot.”  
“Neither will Greg, Janet or Nina. You guys are friends, like family. That’s alright. But strangers or people I only know because we ran into each other every now and then, will have to keep their hands to themselves.”  
“Some people may have problems with rules.” Tom came on the balcony, Nina with him.   
“I do.” Jules smiled. “Only with stupid rules. Hey Sweety, how was work?”  
“Successful. I hope.” Nina sat on Jules’ chair, taking Sofia’s hand, to check her pulse.   
“I don’t need any treatment.”  
“I know. It’s a random check. Did you sleep enough?”  
“Probably not. But I had a salad with chicken instead of pizza. And I’ll have another nap later when Brian is here.”  
“Go home on time tomorrow to get some proper rest, will you?”  
“I think I can do that.”  
“Good. Anything new of the baby puppy?”  
“No, everything is alright.”  
“I’m happy to hear that. Especially after last night. I worried when Sara told me you’re in hospital.”  
“You told her?” Sofia looked surprised at Sara.  
“Yes. I knew it would take you some time until you’re done with the checks, so I asked Nina what could possible have happen to you. After all, she’s a medical doctor, had the basics at one point.”  
“You really worry about me.”  
“About my baby puppy.” Sara smirked.   
“Of course.” Sofia blinked at her. If she wanted to let her think, she didn’t care that much about her, only about the baby, it was alright.   
“You don’t believe me, I don’t bring you some dessert. Tom, could you help me, please?”  
“Sure.”   
Sara got out of Jules’ arms, who knew exactly that Sara didn’t ask Tom because she needed some help, she asked him because she wanted to talk to him. It was clear to all of them. Like everybody could feel, there were some tensions between Sara and Tom since the night. The FBI – LVPD problem.  
“I’ve some ice cream in the freezer and fruits in the fridge. When we heat them up in the microwave, we can eat ice cream with hot raspberries.” She opened the fridge and got the fruits out.   
“Do you have some cream?”  
“In the fridge too.” Sara poured some sugar over the raspberries and put them in the microwave. Then she turned and looked at Tom, who hasn’t done anything so far. There was nothing to do for him.   
“How mad are you on a scale from one for not mad to ten for very mad?”  
“Around seven and a half.”  
“That’s not that good – considering that you had a few hours to cool down.”  
“I’m more mad with myself that I got mad.”  
Sara sighed. She was afraid something like that would happen. When she found the rose and made the decision not to call the FBI right away, she knew there would get trouble with Tom. They were on the same side of the fence, but they worked not together.   
“Tom…shit…I knew this will be difficult…”  
“Yes it is and it won’t change.”  
“Are you telling me you’re done with us?” Did the case kill their relationship? Or the beginning of their relationship. Was it not more than a one – night – stand? Because they couldn’t arrange their private and professional lives?   
He pulled her in his arms, his mouth close to her left ear and grumbled: “If you think you can get rid off me that easily, you’re damn wrong, Sara Sidle. Try harder.” He kissed her softly.   
Sara felt how relieved she was. She hated to admit that, but the thought, that she had lost Tom because of last night, had bothered her. She liked him; more than she wanted to admit it. And she had started to regret her acting of the last night a bit.   
“The problem is, I don’t want to get rid off you.”  
“That’s really a problem. You don’t have any idea how to make me leave your life?”  
“I’ll try again not to cooperate with the FBI.”  
“Well, I’ve some bad news for you: After last night I made the decision, I’ll keep my work and my private life separated. Means, if you piss me off during my job, I’ll ignore that as soon as I see you after work. No chance for a fight because you’re a stubborn nightmare again, who doesn’t do a bloody thing she’s told to do.”  
“It’s called independence.” She smiled and snuggled in his arms. “I won’t promise I won’t do it again because I will.”  
“I know that. You’ll have to make up for that, Sara.”  
“How?”  
“I’ll let you know when I know. For now, get the fruits out of the microwave and I get the cream and the ice cream. There are people waiting for dessert on your balcony.”  
“Right. And we need some more bowls, I heard the door, I bet there are at least two more people sitting around.” She had heard Greg’s voice and when Greg was there, Janet wasn’t far away.   
One look at her balcony told her, she was right. Even Brian was there, having Sofia in his arms, his hand on her belly, caressing it softly with little circles. There was no need to ask if he was happy with her being pregnant, he looked like a man, who had everything he wanted.   
“Ice cream and hot fruits.” Sara advertised.   
“Did you have to pick the fruits or why did it take you so long?”  
“Don’t be cheeky, doc. And why is my seat taken?”  
“Because you were gone, I was lonely and this beautiful woman came here to rescue me.” Jules kissed Nina.   
“You got replaced.” Greg took the bowls and gave everybody one.   
“Looks like. Doesn’t matter.”  
“Another one of these people, who can’t take orders.” Tom said.  
“I can take orders, ask Sara.”  
“Yes. Greg did exactly what I asked him to do.”  
“And he ignored what he was supposed to do – just like you.”  
“If I have to choose between doing what Sara ask me to do and doing what the FBI wants me to do, I pick Sara.”  
“Did you get any trouble for not calling agent Gellers?” Nina asked.   
“She tried, but there was nothing she could do. We called as soon as we were sure it’s the blue rose killer.”  
“What is a blue rose killer?” Brian furrowed his brows.  
“A serial killer Sara and Sofia caught last night after the FBI was too stupid.” Greg grinned. “They are heroines. My bitches are the best.”  
“We didn’t catch her, the two officers did. All we did was hiding and keeping their back free.”  
“After she shot at you.”   
“What? Somebody shot at you?” Brian was horrified.  
“Greg, don’t say things like that when civilians are around.” Sofia gave Greg the evil eyes.   
“No, I’m glad he said that. Did you plan to tell me about it?”  
“Uhm, no. I knew you’d worry.”  
“I think everybody can understand why I worry.”  
“The baby is alright, I went to Desert Palms and let it check.”  
“A serial killer shot at you, you went to hospital, anything else I should know of?”  
“Yes. You’re really cute when you’re angry and I love you.” She kissed him.  
“Sofia…”  
“Don’t try to make me stop being a cop.”  
“How about…?”  
“No!”  
“She made up her mind, Brian. I’m afraid you can’t change her mind and if you try too hard, all you’ll get is into a fight. She wears a vest, she’ll work in an office the last weeks, don’t try to keep her off the streets the whole time, her life is outside, she isn’t a pen pusher.” Jules advised.   
“I worry about my girlfriend and my unborn baby.”  
“We all do.”  
“I wear the vest, that’s it. Nothing happened, I’ve real great guardian angel.” Sofia smiled at Sara.   
“You say much nicer things to me than Tom does.”  
“That’s because you’re nicer to her than to me.” Tom pulled Sara in his arms. “But I’ll teach you how to behave nice to your boyfriend. I haven’t figured out how to do that, but I will.”  
“Good luck.” She kissed him. There were other people, who had tried to teach her some manners, apparently it didn’t work out most times. In Sara’s eyes it was pretty easy to make her do, whatever you wanted her to do: don’t force her, ask friendly and make her feel, it is her own decision. And maybe then she would cooperate with the FBI – or not.


End file.
